A subject that concerns me

Hello all, I am not really active on this site although I am an AB from Quebec, Canada. Today I wanted to post on a subject that has been talked about worldwide that concerns the Quebec. You may have heard that the Quebec government made a decision in his last budget that the students’ university tuition fees will increase of about 75% in the next 5 years. In Quebec, the majority of the students have been protesting for now more than 100 days. There are protests and demonstrations every day since February organised by the different student associations or independent students. The biggest demonstrations occurred March 22nd with over 200 000 people, April 22nd with overs 300 000 people, and Mai 22nd with over 300 000 people estimated by the medias.

I know that the fees in Quebec are lower than in the rest of US, but I want to remind you that in Quebec we pay a lot more taxes on our salaries and on products than the rest of US so I hope you will still support the Quebecers in their movement even though the fees are not comparable.

I post here a video that has been released today that show the student movement in Quebec, and hope this will inform you.

Thanks

monkey wrote on 18-04-2012:

I bring this topic to yours as it may seem to some controversy.

I am a student in college. Some time ago the our government made ​​a decision to implement an increase in tuition fees at the University. I live in Quebec (Canada), here the system is mainly done to give a strong redistribution of wealth (taxes).

The announcement create alot of debate and rebellion. Over 60% of students would be unable to continue their studies. Also, this will create a big impact on the middle class who already barely making ends meet.

For more than three months, several student unions are launching protests, including a strike by about 250,000 students. Irroniquement, the government refuses to listen to them that this must indicants Implement this increase in prétexe it will fund the universities, knowing that some Rectors wages are reaching the quarter-milion.

Thus, I would like to know your position on the importance that students can have on a state decisons. Should we be listening?

You pay on average $2750.00 CDN per year in tuition, you also fail to mention that tuition is doubled if ou are not a Quebec resident. The government wants to raise the price by $325 per year for the next 5 years, which is $27.08 a month or $0.89 per day. Even then, you will still have the lowest tuition rates in the country. This is to keep up with inflation and increasing costs for school and staff. ANY minimum wage job can pay for a whole year of school in one summer of working. Not having a flavor shot in you latte will offset the increase.

In response you and your friends have rioted, broken the law, placed innocent people at risk with the use of rocks and molotov cocktails and cost taxpayers and businesses hundreds of thousands of dollars due to the need for more police, clean up and lost business. Also, you fail to mention the faculties which are NOT protesting a reasonable increase. Engineering, business, finance, many of the sciences are all trying to go to class and you are actively trying to stop them from getting an education. Running into classrooms and screaming SCAB in people's faces is NOT protest.

All this shows is exactly how entitled the youth of today are.

Out of curiosity, what is your degree going to be in and what do you expect for a starting salary once you graduate?

You also mention the tax rate. 16% on income up to $40,100 (most students will fall under this). This shouldn't really be an issue due to the ease with which they hand out scholarships and the large amount of deductions that are available to students. And a combined sales tax of 14.5%, there are 5 other provinces that have pretty much the same rate. And Quecbec is not the highest.

Very easily doable if you work part time during the school year and then get a summer job and work fulltime at that. Working this way at $10 part time and then $15 fulltime in the summer is a little over $20k income. Not including scholarships.

I'm tired of the protests. Luckily I'm not affected by it as much as I'm not a student and I don't work close to the affected campuses or where the protests have happened.

The points that RetrieverPup referenced pretty much covers all the bases. There is really no excuse for students to be on strike and if I were Jean Charest I would add up all the damage and lost productivity and tack it on to students' tuition.

Students that are striking and damaging public/private property should be made an example of with hefty fines, community service, school suspension and jail time.

My lord, if what RetrieverPup says is true, I'll gladly go to college in Quebec for that fee. University of Pitt costs roughly $15,000 a year, and that's not terrible considering the tuition costs of other colleges in the area. And tuition spikes are happening in the US, too. I can't afford a decent college without having to bury myself alive in debt as it is, if tuition is raised even higher I can kiss the mere thought of getting farther than community college goodbye. And your min. wage is several dollars higher than ours to boot- hell, we can switch places if you want! I'd love a decent education I can actually afford.

You pay on average $2750.00 CDN per year in tuition, you also fail to mention that tuition is doubled if ou are not a Quebec resident. The government wants to raise the price by $325 per year for the next 5 years, which is $27.08 a month or $0.89 per day. Even then, you will still have the lowest tuition rates in the country. This is to keep up with inflation and increasing costs for school and staff. ANY minimum wage job can pay for a whole year of school in one summer of working. Not having a flavor shot in you latte will offset the increase.

In response you and your friends have rioted, broken the law, placed innocent people at risk with the use of rocks and molotov cocktails and cost taxpayers and businesses hundreds of thousands of dollars due to the need for more police, clean up and lost business. Also, you fail to mention the faculties which are NOT protesting a reasonable increase. Engineering, business, finance, many of the sciences are all trying to go to class and you are actively trying to stop them from getting an education. Running into classrooms and screaming SCAB in people's faces is NOT protest.

All this shows is exactly how entitled the youth of today are.

Out of curiosity, what is your degree going to be in and what do you expect for a starting salary once you graduate?

You also mention the tax rate. 16% on income up to $40,100 (most students will fall under this). This shouldn't really be an issue due to the ease with which they hand out scholarships and the large amount of deductions that are available to students. And a combined sales tax of 14.5%, there are 5 other provinces that have pretty much the same rate. And Quecbec is not the highest.

Very easily doable if you work part time during the school year and then get a summer job and work fulltime at that. Working this way at $10 part time and then $15 fulltime in the summer is a little over $20k income. Not including scholarships.

First world Canadian problems. Do you have any concept of how much students pay in countries with actual high college costs?

Quebec, in particular, has such cheap public universities that, short of arguing that all public universities ought to be outright or effectively free to students, there is no basis for complaining about these increases. I don't see people making that argument here.

Right now students in Quebec pay about 17% of the total cost of their education. The rest is paid through everyone's taxes (including people from outside Quebec through federal tax transfers) The VERY small tuition hike would put that up to about 20% that the students pay.

First world Canadian problems. Do you have any concept of how much students pay in countries with actual high college costs?

Quebec, in particular, has such cheap public universities that, short of arguing that all public universities ought to be outright or effectively free to students, there is no basis for complaining about these increases. I don't see people making that argument here.

Originally Posted by SterlingArcher

have you seen how much uni students will have to pay in the UK from this september? £9000 which is probably about $15-16,000 CAD

What other countries are paying is irrelevant. Many countries have laws against being gay, but we don't say "well at least they aren't being killed here". Most people I know would say that the argument isn't "Canadians pay so little, they should pay more", but that you guys pay too much, and shouldn't burden students with so much debt early in their lives, since even hard-working individuals aren't guaranteed a job in the current job-market.

If Québec was self-sufficient, then the rest of the country (well, most people) would probably say that it's up to them to decide and would stay out of it. Now I'll admit that I have limited knowledge in this area, but from what I've been told Québec gets given a disproportionate amount from the federal level to help maintain their social programmes (which seems to be because the rampant corruption is causing them to hemorrhage money), like their lower tuition costs (if not directly, then indirectly by shoring up the slack in other ways so Québec has the money to afford lower tuition prices), and other Canadians feel that if they aren't getting the benefit of the lower tuition, why do they need to help fund Québec's school? Whether or not this is true I don't know, but this seems to be what people here think is the issue, and their feelings on it.

I don't think the raise is unreasonable, and the "60% can no longer afford it" assumes that people maintain the same attitude about university (i.e. that the parents don't need to save to help the child afford it). There will be a hit while it climbs, but these protests have at least made the general public aware that university prices are going up, and by how much, so people know that if they want their kid to go to university, then they'll need to save.

My personal opinion is way the other way. I don't really have an issue with raising taxes some if it will lower tuition costs until it no longer requires substantial loans, or the parents are on the hook (because lots of parents outright refuse, and it's not the student's fault). I'm happy as long as I have a roof over my head, food, and basic amenities, and a small amount for recreational use, though. I have no interest in being able to afford a huge unnecessary house, or a car that costs even more than that. I'd rather that money go into programmes that help those who need it. I'm aware that this is unrealistic, but it would be a lot better if people weren't so selfish.